Shikhar Dhawan, India’s stand-in captain, discussed the omission of Sanju Samson from the XI for the 2nd ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton on Sunday.
The match was called off after only 12.5 overs of the Indian innings due to rain.
Shikhar Dhawan on Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson, who had a strong showing in the first ODI of the current series against New Zealand, was replaced in the starting lineup by Deepak Hooda when India named him as the replacement. In the opening game, India only had five bowling options and included Rishabh Pant and Samson in their XI, with Pant keeping the wickets.
Rishabh Pant once again struggled to make an impact with the bat, but Samson had a lot of promise before being dismissed. Fans had hoped that a bowling option would be used in place of Pant for the second game after all the criticism that India had received for not having the sixth bowling option. India, however, decided to start Pant in the starting XI and bench Samson.
India attempted to tie the series by winning the second ODI, but the weather in New Zealand foiled all of their efforts. In the second game, which was abandoned due to rain after only 12.5 overs of play, Dhawan gave an explanation of why Samson was benched.
“We wanted the sixth bowler to come in, so Sanju Samson missed out and Hooda came in. And Chahar was picked because he can swing the ball really well. A few of our guys are resting but this side is still strong, shows the depth of our squad,” Dhawan said.
Samson took part in the three-match T20I series between India and New Zealand last week, but he was unable to play. After two of the series’ games were ruined by rain, India, which was captained by Hardik Pandya on the T20I team, won the series 1-0.
Samson was benched throughout the T20I series for a “strategic” reason, according to Pandya, who labeled it a “unfortunate scenario” after the series was over. Nevertheless, Samson was selected for the Auckland One-Day International, where he scored 36 runs in 38 balls and partnered with Shreyas Iyer for 96 runs.
